Magnetic mount for gun sights



June 1962 K. R. DETRICH ET AL 3,037,288

MAGNETIC MOUNT FOR GUN SIGHTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 29, 1958 K67 77/ Lam e6 June 1952 K. R. DETRICH ET AL 3,037,288

MAGNETIC MOUNT-FOR GUN sicHTs 2 Sheets-Shee t 2 Filgd Aug. 29, 1958 INVENTORS RTTAR/VE) 3,037,288 MAGNETIC MOUNT FOR GUN SIGHTS Keith R. Detrich, Prairie Village, Kans., and Lawrence R.

Wagner, Tulsa, kla.; said Detrich assignor of onehalf to Otto 0. Royer, Cleveland Heights, Ohio Filed Aug. 29, 1958, Ser. No. 757,988 8 Claims. (Cl. 33--50) This invention relates to a magnetic mounting device for gun sights, and has for its principal object to secure a sight on a gun by the utilization of magnetic force of perm-anent magnets as the sole means of holding the sight in its relative position on the gun. H I

Another object of this invention is to provide a mounting device for sights on a gun in such a manner that the sight may be instantly removed and replaced without affecting the alignment of the sight with the bore of the gun.

A still further object of this invention is to construct a magnetic mounting device for gun sights that will per- Init the sight to become dislodged from its operative position on the gun should the sight receive a serious jolt as by rough usage, thus avoiding a possible damage to the sight and misalignment thereof with the bore of the gun when again replaced thereon in its operative position.

i A still further object of this invention is the provision of a mounting device for gun sights of the characterherein setforth, which requiresa minimum of time and skill in the preparation of the gun for receiving the mounting device, said device having a guiding means to engage the gun for locating the sight on its predetermined relative position to the gun as originally aligned.

A still further object of this invention is a magnetic gun sight mounting device that embodies features of construction which prevent the magnetic material involved from losing any of its residual magnetism.

A still further object is to provide means for the adj'ustability of the gun sight to accomplish its relative aligned position to the gun, said means when rigidly secured will retain the mounting device in its predetermined set position on the sight during the removal and replacement of the said sight on the gun.

A still further object is to provide a gun sight-mounting device that has suflicient magnetic attraction to retain the same on a gun during normal operation thereof, but capable of being removed by gripping the sight and pulling the same from the gun, whereby the sight may be conveniently stored in its respective storage compartment for safe keeping thereof.

These and other objects will hereinafter be more fully explained, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. forming a part of this specification, and which like characters will apply to like parts in the different views.

. Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the'invcntio-n as applied to a telescope sight that is shown in mounted position on a gun, said gun being fragmentarily shown.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged side view of the invention and fragmentary portion of the sight and gun, parts of the invention being broken away from convenience of illustration.

. FIG. 3 is an end view of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional View taken on line 4-4 in FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a view taken on line 55 in FIG. 3, looking in direction of the arrows.

' FIG. 6 is a diagrammatical View, illustrating the lines of magnetic force when applied to a gun, while FIG. 7 illustrates the magnetic circuit when removed from a gun.

FIG. 8 is a side view of a modified form for mounting on optical type sight.

atent FIG. 9 is an enlarged sectional view taken on line 9-9 in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is a plan view of FIG. 8.

The invention herein disclosed is a readily detachable means for mounting various types of gun sights to their respective guns. The sight illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 5 inclusive is of a conventional telescope type having its cylindrical tube 1 secured substantially in parallelism with the barrel or receiver 2 of a gun as sighting means thereof, while FIGS. 8 to 10 inclusive illustrate the application of an optical reflecting shotgun sight 3 that is likewise readily detachably secured to its respective gun 4 and being later described. 7. It will also beunderstood that other types such as the aperture sights may be likewise mounted on its respective gun by the employment of magnetism, said invention hereinafter referred to as a mount or mounting device,

Referring now more particularly to a preferred construction of the invention, it will be seen that the magnet components thereof consist of a keeper or support 5, a plate of non-ferrous material 6, a pair of blocks 7 of hard magnetic material, and a pair of soft steel pole pieces 8.

While we have shown a pair of magnets or units to secure their respective end of the sight to the gun, the description thereof will be confined to only one unit but may be applicableto both. The keeper 5 is for the purpose of rigidly securing the sight to the mounting device and is formed from soft steel material, said keeper to span the pole pieces 8 that are spaced apart by the magnetic blocks 7. The said blocks 7 supply the magnetic flux for the pole pieces 8 which are secured to their respective corresponding ends of the blocks 7. The pole pieces 8, in this instance, are comparatively narrow and being vertically disposed, the upper edges thereof being horizontally positioned, while the lower edges thereof being horizontall} positioned, while the lower edges thereof being arcuately formed to fit precisely on its respective barrel of a gun. The lower extremities of the magnetic blocks 7 are likewise arcuately formed and being spaced from but coinciding with the barrel of the gun, while their upper extremities are fiat and being in a plane with the upper extremities of the pole pieces 8. It will be seen that the lower side of the keeper 5 is flat and being spaced a predetermined distance above the pole pieces 8 and blocks 7 by the plate 6 of a non-ferrous material which is the magnetic equivalent of an air gap.

The telescope sight for accurate function must be aligned correctly with its respective gun, therefore should the sight be removed for storage, or other purposes, and later replaced on the gun, the sight must be placed exactly in its, original adjusted position. To locate the exact position of the mount on the gun there is provided a pin or screw 9 that is vertically adjusted by its threaded engagement in a cubical element 10 of brass material that is positioned between the said blocks 7 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The lower end of said screw is tapered to seat in acorresponding tapered bore or recess 11 that is formed in the barrel of the gun. The tapered end of the screw is readily insertable and removable from the recess 11 since it and the recess are unthreaded and thus have no interlocking connection therebetween. As a result, the mounting device, and hence the gun sight, maybe placed up or removed from the gun barrel by simple lateral movement of the device or sight with respect to the barrel. The keeper 5 and plate 6 are likewise bored as accessible means for a screw driver for its engagement to operate the screw. As a convenient means to locate the center of the bore 11 in the gun, the said screw is longitudinally bored as at 12 through which a drilling bit will engage as starting means for the said bore 11.

Since the two pole pieces 8 are spaced from each other and are arcuately shaped to precisely fit the gun barrel,

they determine the axial alignment of each mounting device with respect to the longitudinal axis of the barrel as well as the lateral position of the device on the barrel, Whereas the pin or screw 9 locates the device both longitudinally and angularly on the barrel. Thus'the pin and recess and the arcuately shaped pole pieces together completely locate the device in a predetermined or preset position with respect to the barrel.

As the magnetic blocks 7 cannot easily be drilled or machined, the preferred method of securing the components, namely, the pole piece 8, the blocks 7, the plate 6, said cubical element 10 and the keeper permanentally together in the position as above described is by silver soldering, or any suitable method.

The keeper 5 has formed in its upper extremity thereof a concavity that conforms to the convexity of a pair of semi-circular annular ring sectors 13 that surround the tube of the sight as shown in FIG. 4, the ends of said ring sectors being spaced apart to provide for snug engagement of said sectors when clamped by a strap 14. The strap 14 is arcuate in cross section, the inner side coinciding with the convexity of the ring sectors externally, while the ring sectors internally coincide with the diameter of the tube 1 of the sight. The ends of the keeper 5 are vertically disposed, while its sides as at A diverge from the concavity and to which slantingly out turned ears 15 of the strap are secured by screws 16 engaging through apertures provided in said ears and threadedly engaging into the body of the keeper as shown by dotted lines in FIG. 4. It will be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4 that sufficient clearance is provided between the ears and 7 their respective inclined sides of the keeper whereby the ring sectors and sight will be snugly clamped thereto. By the arragement of the clamping means above set forth, the same is equivalent to a ball and socket connection, whereby the mount may be universally rocked during alignment of the sight, and then securely fastened by a further screwing engagement of the screws 16.

By employing two units of the nature above described and placing the same adjacent their respective ends of the telescope sight or a suitable distance apart, and furthermore by the provision of the locating screws 9 en'- gaging in their respective bores in the gun barrehit is apparent that the sight will automatically align with the bore of the gun in exactly the same way each time it is placed in position on the gun. With the magnetic blocks 7 magnetized to saturation, the tractive etlort exerted on the barrel of the gun by the pole piece 8 is suflicient to hold the sight rigidly in place during ordinary usage, but may be displaced therefrom should the sight receive an accidental damaging blow, as well as the sight may be willfully removed from the gun by gripping one end of the sight and forcing its respective magnetic mount from the gun.

It is commonly known that magnetic material'is saturated when all of its elementary magnetic particles are oriented in one direction. This condition is illustrated diagrammatically in FIGS. 6 and 7, in which the lines of force or flux are shown in a straight line from one pole piece 8 to the other.- As the flux enters the soft steel pole pieces 8 whose magnetic particles are easily oriented in any direction, it will follow the line of least reluctance. Thus, when the two pole pieces come in contact with a ferromagnetic material such as a steel gun barrel 2, the line of force will travel through the gun barrel as in FIG. 6, creating a tractive effort between the pole pieces 8, and the barrel 2. When sufficient outside force is applied to the magnet to overcome this tra ctive force, or holding power, and the pole pieces 8 are separated from the gun barrel 2, as shown in' FIG. 7, then the line of least reluctance is across the'plate 6 which is the equivalent to an air gap and then through the soft steel keeper 5. The purpose of the keeper in addition or securing the sight to the mount is to reduce or substantially eliminate the demagnetizing effects that would be present if the flux were forced to span the relatively long air gap from one pole piece to the other when not engaged by the barrel of the gun.

, FIGS. 8 and 10 inclusive illustrate a modified magnetic mount, which in this instance is adaptable for securing an optical reflecting shotgun sight 3 to its respective position to the gun 4. Said modified mount consists of a pair of elongated pole pieces 17, and having magnetic blocks or bars 18 similarly arranged to that of the blocks 7 but being increased in length and a similar screw B to engage in a bore provided in the gun barrel as shown in FIG. 9. A plate 19 of non-ferrous material is secured by silver solder to the upper sides of the pole pieces and to the magnetic bars, while the pole pieces are secured to the bars by similar securing means. Removably and adjustably secured to the non-ferrous plate 19 is the above mentioned sight which comprises an elongated supporting bar 3" to seat on the plate 19 and secured thereto by screws 20 and 21, said screw 21 engaging through an elongated transverse slot 22 for permitting the bar to rock about the axis of screw 20 for alignment purpose of the sight. It will be understood that the above described sight is a conventional type and therefore need not be described herein, and furthermore the supporting bar 3' is a part of the sight and functions in this instance as the keeper for the magnet bars 18.

We desire to emphasize that various minor changes in details or construction, proportion and arrangement of parts, may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims without departing from or sacrificing any of the principles of our invention.

. Having fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a mounting device for gun sights comprising a pair of pole pieces, spaced apart and having arcuate seats in which the barrel of a gun will engage, a pair of permanent magnets spaced apart and being secured between'said pole pieces for creating lines of force, a member secured between the magnetic elements and said pole pieces, a screw threadedly engaging in said member and having a non-threaded portion to non-interlockingly engage a bore provided in a gun barrel to serve as a retaining means for the device against longitudinal movement along the barrel when the same is discharged and as locating means for the device at a predetermined known position on the gun barrel, a plate of non-ferrous material having one of its sides secured to the pole pieces, permanent magnets and member, a keeper having a flat side and a concavity side, the flat side being secured by silver soldering to the other side of the plate, while the concavity side is 'a carrying means for a telescope gun sight, arcuate ring members engaging the telescope sight as universal adjusting means of said device on said sight, a sector portion of said ring members seating in the concavity of the keeper, and a strap secured to the keeper to clamp the ring members firmly to the sight and to the keeper.

2. A mounting device for gun sights comprising a pair of spaced pole pieces having arcuate seats in which the barrel of a gun will engage, a pair of permanent magnets spaced apart and secured'between said pole pieces for creating lines of force, a member secured between the magnets and said pole pieces, a'screw threadedly engaged in said member and having a non-threaded portion to non-inter-lockingly engage a bore provided in said gun barrel to serve as a retaining means for the device against longitudinal movement along the barrel when the same is discharged and as a locating means for the device at a predetermined position known on the barrel, a keeper, a plate of non-magnetic material mounted between said keeper and said magnets, and means for attaching a gun sight to said keeper.

3. In combination, a sight for firearms, a firearm, and a mounting device to which said sight is attached, said device having portions complementarily. fitted directly to said firearm, magnetic means carried by said device and directly engageable with said firearm for removably attaching said device to said firearm by magnetic attraction exclusively, said magnetic means including locating means directly and non-interlockingly engaged with a complementary portion of said firearm, said locating means and said portions serving to locate said device in a fixed preset position relative to said firearm.

4. The combination of claim 3 in which said locating means comprises a pin adjustably mounted on said device.

5. In combination, a sight for firearms, a firearm, and a pair of mounting devices, each of said devices including magnetic means for removably attaching the same directly to said firearm, each of said devices including universal means removable from said firearm with said devices, said universal means providing for adjustable attachment of the devices to said sight whereby alignment of said sight with said devices is facilitated.

6. A device for mounting a sight on a firearm, said device including a support, means carried by said support for attaching said sight to said support, a permanent magnet for removably attaching said device directly to said firearm by magnetic attraction exclusively, said magnet being fixedly attached to said support whereby it is removable from said firearm with said device, a pin projecting from said device and adapted for telescoping non-interlocking relation with a recess in said firearm for locating said device thereon, and threaded means for adjusting the amount said pin projects.

7. A device for mounting a sight to a firearm, said device including a support, means carried by said support for attaching said sight to said support, a permanent magnet for removably attaching said device to said firearm by magnetic attraction, said magnet being fixedly attached to said support whereby it is removable from said firearm with said device, locating means carried by said device adapted for telescoping relation with a portion of said firearm for locating said device thereon, said device including pole pieces on opposite sides of said locating means, said pole pieces projecting beyond said magnet and adapted to contact said firearm so as to maintain said magnet out of direct contact with said firearm.

8. A device in accordance with claim 7 in which said pole pieces are each arcuately formed for intimate seating contact with corresponding arcuate portions of the barrel of said firearm, said pole pieces being spaced apart and serving to locate the axis of said'device with respect to the axis of said barrel when in seating contact therewith, and said locating means serving to locate the angular and longitudinal position of the device on said barrel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,224,783 Gibbs Dec. 10, 1940 2,269,149 Edgar Ian. 6, 1942 2,528,080 Robertson Oct. 31, 1950 2,861,344 Moore Nov. 25, 1958 2,924,881 Gee Feb. 16, 1960 2,931,101 Martin Apr. 5, 1960 

